Apothecary and Herbalism house rules system
Having proficiency with artisan's tools or speciality tools, like a herbalism kit, allows for a character to ply their trade. The core rule books don't give a lot of guidance for more mundane item creation, like potions, so I've created a heavily house ruled system for characters who want to create potions as apothecaries or herbalists. I hope the system can be tweaked to be used for other professions as well, and I give an example of using it with painter's tools in the notes. Potion Crafting System Potions with magical ability are usually somewhat rare, and can only be distilled by skilled apothecaries and herbalists. Creation of potions requires a herbalism kit, proficiency with a herbalism kit, the character to be somewhere plants and materials are available and a certain amount of time to gather and process the correct raw materials. A character engaged in the crafting of a magic item makes progress in 25 gp increments, spending that amount for each day of work until the total cost is paid. The character is assumed to work for 8 hours each of those days. Thus, creating potions of greater healing takes 7 days and 175 gp. Examples of potions and amount of time it would take represented with potions of healing on the table below. Potion Creation Table Multiple characters can combine their efforts to create a potion if each of them meets the level prerequisite. Each character can contribute components as long as everyone participates during the entire crafting process. Each character can contribute 25 gp worth of effort for each day spent helping to craft the potion. While making potions, a character is considered to be plying their trade as an apothecary or herbalist, perhaps even finding a local herbalist or apothecary to work with. The character briefly consults with patrons and provides them with simple herbal poultices and remedies or helps the herbalist or apothecary they’re working with each day. The character can therefore maintain a modest lifestyle without having to pay the 1 gp per day, or a comfortable lifestyle at half the normal cost (see chapter 5, “Equipment,” of the Player’s Handbook). Anyone contributing to the creation of potions makes three skill rolls over the course of creating the potion. Any natural 20 gives an advantage on the next roll. These three rolls represent: Gathering materials - d20 + Nature/Investigation/Survival skill Processing materials - d20 + Herbalism Kit skill Distillation and bottling - d20 + Herbalism Kit skill Add all these rolls together and take the average. A higher total means the potion maker was more successful with using the materials they gathered, and was able to make more potions, as per the following table: Notes This system was based off of the Crafting Magic Items information and the Potions of Healing information in the 5e Dungeon Master's Guide (page 129 and 187-188, respectively). The most heavily house ruled portion is the creation cost for each potion, which effects the amount of time it takes to create each potion. For example, in the original rules a very rare potion cost 50,000 gp, which would take one character more than five years to create, which seems ridiculous. I scaled this down so a very rare potion (potion of supreme healing, potion of invisibility, position of longevity, etc) would take one character about a month to create, which seems fair, although is easy enough to scale up at the DM's discretion. Similarly, it seemed ridiculous to imagine a proficient apothecary or herbalist doing all of that work to create only a single potion, so the three skill rolls and Number of potions made were added to account for a level of skill and chance. I tested this portion with a hypothetical character who has a +4 on each skill roll, which yielded a 10+ average 9/10 times, which was expected. This generally gave the character 2 or 3 potions each time, which seems fair. Again, if potions are more or less rare in-world, this could be scaled up or down at the DM's discretion. With a little tweaking and flavour, I hope the system can be used for other more mundane professions. For example, painter's supplies are used to make some uncommon art. The artist is commissioned by a noble, and starts by doing an intelligence check (to account for knowledge of materials and colour theory, let's say), followed by a painter's supplies check (to account for the initial concept, sketches and initial painting), followed by another (to account for painting refinement and style). The painter could choose to create a single portrait, or a series that totals up to 175 gp worth of work (taking the artist a week), which is, in the end, paid back by the noble, maybe with a little extra for the success of the work.